Video #735: A quick demo and product review of some new silkscreens that work beautifully with polymer clay.
In today’s video I demonstrate some new Silk Screen Stencils (CreateAlong Brand), that Ilysa Ginsburg and Kira Sly from Polymer Clay TV, sent over to me.
If you are not familiar with silkscreens, they are fine decorative mesh stencils, with a polymer that is infused into the screen. They were originally created from silk, but are now made with nylon.
You can push paint through the open areas of the mesh stencil patterns, that will leave beautifully intricate designs on the surface of flat sheets of polymer clay.
I received six stencil designs that came packaged in a large organza bag (a nice touch). They are 100 mesh screens (100 threads per inch), which makes them relatively fine. The fine mica paints from Lumiere by Jacquard, work nicely with these stencils. I wouldn’t recommend using thicker texture pastes or glitter paints.
In the video I also show some examples of other silkscreens on the market, the Sculpey Silk Screens and the Art Screens by Heidi Swapp, both of which are much smaller than the Create Along Screens.
The patterns I received include… Lacey Vines, Squidley, Triple Tapestry, Dotty Stitches, Leaf Cyclone and Hex Flowers. There are some links to these products below the video.
I show samples of each of the designs printed onto different colors of raw Souffle Clay, as well as some completed projects using the sampler sheets.
You usually print silkscreen designs onto raw polymer clay with acrylic paints/inks. I used several different Jacquard paints including, Lumiere, Versatex Screen Printing Ink, Professional Screen Printing Ink and NeoOpaque. Let the paint dry before cutting, forming and baking into you finished pieces. This method will heat set the paint and make it permanent bond with the polymer clay for a very durable finish.
You can also rub dry products through the screen such as PearlEx Powders, Chalk Pastels, etc. Just be sure that the product is water based, so as to not damage the screen.
In the video I demo how to use the silk screens properly and show tips for taking care of your screens and not damaging them.
What I really like about these silkscreens is the variety of designs (around 40 right now). I believe Ilysa and/or Kira are actually drawing the designs themselves. I also like that the screens are quite large so you can use them on larger sheets of polymer clay if you wish. They are reasonably priced at around $15 US each.
- Related Resource: CreateAlong Lacey Vines Silkscreen on Amazon
- Related Resource: CreateAlong Squidley Silkscreen on Amazon
- Related Resource: CreateAlong Leaf Cyclone Silkscreen on Amazon
- Related Resource: CreateAlong Hex Flowers Silkscreen on Amazon
- Related Resource: CreateAlong Web Site
- Related Video: Silk Screening Kit From Sculpey Product Review
- Related Video: Sculpey Souffle Polymer Clay Product Review
- Related Video: Applying Pearl Ex Pigments Onto Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Sculpey Design It Templates for Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Drilling Holes in Raw Polymer Clay Vs Baked Clay
Do you have any suggestions for videos on tips, techniques or products you would like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments section below!
My goal is to help you to learn quicker and easier ways to bring up the professionalism in your polymer clay art.
Oh and don’t forget to give these videos a Thumbs Up click at YouTube if you are enjoying them. The more Likes a video gets, the higher it rises in the searches. And that means even more people will be able to join in on this polymer clay journey of a lifetime.
Also, by subscribing to our YouTube Channel directly, you will receive notifications as soon as new videos are uploaded. To subscribe, click here… CreateAlong Silk Screen Stencils for Polymer Clay … the Subscribe Button is right near the top of that YouTube page.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
I like those. So many pretty designs at their website too. I see silk screening polymer clay in my future. :-) Thanks for the demo.
You are more than welcome Dawn!
Love the large size silkscreens, will definitely have to pay those girls a visit. I don’t recall you showing the Lumiere paints before so those are also going on my list. Thanks so much for the great demo!
You’re welcome Dixie Ann! Yeah I’ll have to try and do a separate video on the Lumiere and NeoOpaque paints from Jacquard. They are beautiful paints!
Dixie Ann, those Lumiere paints colours are gorgeous and they are super good for silk screening.
For anyone who who has a supply of acrylic paint sitting around (like me did folk art back in the day) here’s a handy hint. I read that a heavy body paint is better for silk screening than a thin “runny” one. I tried some of my less than heavy body paints and it’s true :-) All is not lost though as we can add a thickening gel to the paint to make it heavy body. I bought the Liquitex Matte Gel so I can use the dozens of tubes of paint in my stash. There are other brands of gel like Golden that will do the job too.
I broke down and bought all the Pearlescent Lumiere Paints for a really great price and then got 4 of the large silk screens since they had a 20% off birthday sale this week. It’s like getting one free!
Which ones did you buy?when was the sale?
Natalie, their sale was a couple of weeks ago when they celebrated her birthday and had 20% off of everything in the store. If you sign up for their newsletter you would get their emails and sale items. I bought the 4 larger silk screens that Cindy demonstrated because I liked their large size. The Lumiere Paints I got from Dharma Trading and got the 6 basic colors since I can mix them if I want to. Congrats on your new Atlas with motor. Once you have a motor it’s hard to ever work without one. :)
Yes, I like the larger size, too! I could see me using these for boxes or frames. Those psints sound interesting as well. Where can you find them?
You can get the Lumiere Paints all kinds of places Catalina especially online. I believe they are having a huge sale on them and the NeoOpaque Paints at Blitsy. Use the link in the ad in the side bar and you’ll get $10 off your first order. (Plus we get credit for the sale as well.) You’ll see the prices are amazing there.
I always forget about the Blitsy site so I have bookmarked it. I was able to get the Lumiere paints at Dharma Trading for $3.75 ea this time but will definitely check the Blitzy site since you get a rebate back. :)
Yeah it is awesome. I have bought lots from there already at such great prices. Sometimes more than 50% off! When you do go there, make sure to come back here and use our link and not just your bookmarked link. I believe there is a time limit from when you click on the link and then buy something, as to whether or not it will get credited to us or not.
Hello Cindy!
I always looks forward to Friday mornings with you! Thanks so much for this one. I especially like the 2 color piece pendant you showed at the end! I am inclined to give screening a second look after this.
Happy weekend to you both. Marilyn
Thank you Marilyn! Thanks for stopping by!
Good video guys!
Have done tons of silk screening on tshirts so I was really excited to see screens come out for polymer clay.
I have yet to purchase any or the paints but after reading the comments I’ll have a look at Blitsy. Always happy to help small business people.
Thank you Aims! I think you would enjoy doing the silkscreening on clay… it’s fun!
I’ve just been on over to their website, what beautiful designs. Thanks so much for sharing this find Cindy.
I have a favour, and am wondering if others could please let me know if it’s just me that cannot change their currency from USA to CA dollars on their site (none of their currencies other than USD works) aka It’s just defaulting to USD. I’ve made contact with them to clarify but appreciate if some one else could try their currency drop down … maybe I am going boingers at my end!
Thanks
You’re not going boingers, Lolla :-) I’ve just tried to change currency to Aussie dollars and it stays in US dollars. I even tried English pounds! I added a silkscreen to the cart and it still shows US currency. Must be their website that has a glitch if neither of us can change it to our currency. Otherwise I’d be going boingers too and I’ve never heard that word before LOL.
Hi Chrissie,
I sent an e-mail to CreateAlong in relation to that very problem and this is the response received:
“I had asked Kira if our shopping cart converted the price and she told me it was done in Paypal not in the shopping cart. So to my understanding when you go to pay, Paypal will convert it to Canadian dollars. We don’t have any way to change it within the shopping cart since we are in the USA. We have customers from all over the world and no one has had issue with the currency being converted so it must work when you pay”.
Now whilst I am technical, if that is the route they have chosen then so be it , but of course I know that there are many different merchant websites who are able to offer at the click of a mouse their site in different currency, as I am sure you know too.
So indeed I am not going boingers *phew*, nor you bonkers for want of a better Aussie phrase (btw, born in AU… from SA>VIC… now in CA)… Agree though that it would be nice to be able to change currency automatically instead of referring to XE.com, but even then… your payment method is dictated at the day/time/second your payment is obtained and based on what ever the exchange rate is, paypal for example are a world unto their own!…
As for Krithika’s reply below, Shades of Clay offer limited items from CreateAlong. I hate to think what you folk back in AU, let alone out west are paying for any of those items! Shipping alone to the west would be painful enough!
G’day Lolla, you”re a long way from home :-)
So a great relief for both of us to know we are not going bonkers. If that’s the way they have set up their site then we have to go with the flow.
Agree about PayPal being in a world of their own with exchange rates. The Aussie dollar is bad enough without their input :-) Much the same for Canadian dollars, I assume.
Way out west the postage rates are painful but we do have a very reasonably priced supplier in Over the Rainbow in VIC who charges fairly for postage.
Bet you have XE,com bookmarked like me LOL.
Hi Chrissie, Heather is awesome to deal with… I had the luxury of being able to collect my supplies as she was only a 5 minute drive from home, bit of a hike to do that now LOL!
I don’t know how much this will help, but for Canadian folks, Wendy at Shades of Clay is now carrying some of these silkscreens!
Thank you for the tutorial, Cindy. I’ve been testing various acrylic paints on raw clay and they print and dry very nicely. The problem comes when I form them around a cylinder and pinch the clay to make a nice seam, the paint rubs off.
I’ve tried putting a thin layer of translucent clay over the paint, which works, but dulls the color. I’ve tried painting the silkscreen printing with Sculpey’s Satin Glaze, letting it dry and then powdering it with cornstarch because it’s kind of sticky, which works somewhat better. I read about putting plastic wrap over it while manipulating the clay. Do you know of any clay and paint/ink combo where the silkscreening really bites into the clay so it can take some handling without rubbing off? It’s quite frustrating.
Hi Phyllis, try rolling the seam with an acrylic roller instead of pinching it with your fingers, that should help keeping you from rubbing the paint off. Plastic wrap will just cling to the paint and pull it off. A piece of parchment paper should work though… did you see the video where I made the striped sheet, using the scrap pieces of silkscreened clay and then laid the parchment on top to burnish it? It didn’t stick to the clay there. Try those things and see if that helps. Comeback and let us know how it goes!
Thanks, Cindy. I forget to use the acrylic roller, but that should help. Parchment paper should also help.
This is a very long comment, but I tested 20 paints or inks on 4 different clays by just dabbing it on and then waiting 24 hours and trying to rub it off with my finger. I haven’t silkscreened with most of these yet. My goal was to find a combination of raw clay and paint/ink that wouldn’t rub off off raw clay so I could form it around objects. Following are my results.
Raw clays tested: Fimo, Kato, Premo and Souffle.
Paints and inks tested (all water-based):
1. Artist’s Loft Acrylic Paint
2. Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paint
3. Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Paint
4. Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint
5. Pebeo Studio Acrylic Paint
6. Martha Stewart Craft Acrylic Paint
7. Lumiere Acrylic Paint
8. Golden Acrylic Paint
9. Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint Matte
10. Folk Art Acrylic Paint
11. Viva Precious Metal Colours
12. So Soft Fabric Paint
13. Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink
14. Versatex Fabric Screen Printing Ink
15. Jacquard Textile Paint
16. Martha Stewart Glass Paint
17. Golden Matte Medium mixed with lilac colored Disperse Dye
18. Apple Barrel Indoor/Outdoor Satin Acrylic Paint
19. Viva Ferro Acrylic Paint
20. Swellegant Metallic Acrylic Paint
I let paint dabs dry for over 24 hours. This seems to be important. Some paints were thicker and more opaque than others. All clay was well- conditioned. I leached Kato clay 3 times before using because it was extremely soft. I didn’t leach the other clays as they seemed normal.
Results:
Fimo: Many paints still sticky and smeared or rubbed off except for number 11. 9 & 18 didn’t rub off, but remained sticky.
Kato: Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 16 & 18 dried and adhered well. The rest rubbed off.
Souffle: Numbers 9, 11, 16 & 18 dried and adhered well. The rest rubbed off.
Premo: Numbers 6 & 11 dried and adhered well. The rest rubbed off.
I didn’t include the matte medium/disperse dye mixture in the results because it made a halo of color on all clays and over time actually bled through the back of the clay. I also didn’t include Viva Ferro because it’s a very thick and grainy paint that creates a surface like sandpaper.
Summary:
The clay that the most paints or inks stuck to was Kato. Souffle was the next most receptive and Premo next. Fimo didn’t fare well.
The best paints and inks for silkscreening depend upon the clay, but number 11 (Viva Precious Metal Colours) worked on all. It dried within minutes and isn’t easy to rub off. A drawback is it only comes in a handful of metallic colors. Numbers 9 & 18 (Apple Barrel) & 16 (Martha Stewart Glass Paint) worked well on Kato and Souffle. Number 6 (Martha Stewart Craft Acrylic Paint) worked on Kato and Premo.
This may be a bit overboard, but I was so frustrated with the paint rubbing off.
Hi Phyllis, I am so sorry for the slow response. I had your email in my inbox and I have been meaning to get to it, but I have so much going on, I’ve been buried. I see that you have posted it here now, so I will give you my answers and thoughts here…
I love seeing all of your tests! They are very interesting. As far as the paints not sticking as well to the different clays than others, it is probably the oils in the clay that is causing that. That would also explain why the Kato faired much better than the others. It would be my guess that if you were to leach the other clays, you may end up with results quite similar to the Kato results. Seeing all your experiments with all the different brands, just goes to show that there are many variables that need to be considered. As your results show, some products play nicer with each other than others… just because their formulations are different.
Thank you some much for taking the time to do these tests and for sharing your results with me! I bet you learned a lot during the process. I will keep them on file as a reference and see if I end up with similar results if/when I test out the same brands that you did.
Great job!
Thanks, Cindy! I wasn’t sure if you got my email. I hope I didn’t pressure you even more!
Leaching was a variable that may have given Kato an advantage. The Kato still had a lot of oil in it and weeped into the paper shortly after I put it next to the other clays to take a photo. It will just take more testing to figure it out.
I did learn about paints and inks I’d never heard of before. For example, I didn’t know you could buy Apple Barrel acrylics for $.0.87 a bottle at Walmart.
I look forward to hearing the results you get.
Phyllis C – thanks so much from me personally for all the work that you did with your experiments. This has helped me like you would not believe as I am new to Canada (from Australia) and not at all familiar with any of those brands of paint!
You’re more than welcome. Thanks for your kind note!
Hi Cindy,
I just watched your silkscreen video, where you displayed the 2-sided pendant that was done in red and like a Robin egg color clay with gold paint. I have to tell you the torn edge pendant is really beautiful. What a clever idea and such a great job you did on it. I’ve not silkscreened yet but really want to make a similar one to that one. I only have the Sculpey screens so I will be looking into the ones at Create Along you displayed. You are very talented and I love that you share so many things with us. Thanks again for letting me tell you how great I think you are.
Aww that is very sweet Ida! There are lots and lots of silkscreen manufacturers now so you will find a lot of choices. Creatalong has tons as well as many others on Etsy… just do a search for silkscreens and you will find many many different styles to choose from. Enjoy silkscreening… it is super fun!